


Mercy Leaves the Spirit Screaming

by Gallicenae



Series: Misc Fic Gifts [6]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Gen, Mercy Killing, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 05:12:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11776215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallicenae/pseuds/Gallicenae
Summary: It's been years since the uprising in Kirkwall, and that time has finally taken its toll on Anders. He asks an old companion for a favor in hopes of righting some wrongs.





	Mercy Leaves the Spirit Screaming

**Author's Note:**

> Gift for louminx on tumblr, featuring her Manon Hawke.

“We never seem to agree on anything, do we?” The words came out in a half-hearted laugh as Anders let himself fall back against the rocky canyon wall. His face was hollow and his hair was unkept, strands hanging in his face from the exertion of finding his way through this part of the wilderness on his own.

Fenris had his arms crossed, hard eyes on his former companion. Anders had asked him here on Manon’s behalf, and the fool that he was, Fenris had obliged. The mage was cracking at the seams, constantly at war with the creature living inside him. All it took was an argument about why he’d called this meeting to reduce him to a fit of raging magic he could barely contain.

“Have you thought about what this would do to her?”

“I see what it’s doing to her now.” Anders squeezed his eyes shut, angry with himself. “I can’t- I won’t…”

“Your choices brought us here. Your petty need to be heard is what tore everything apart. And now that you have to live with those consequences, you’d rather not. Typical.”

Anders let himself slide down the rock to sit on the ground. He was not sorry for sparking the revolt. But his actions haunted the woman he loved, and their shadows crossed Manon’s face every single time he looked at her.

“I will not argue with you, Fenris. Not anymore.” He looked up at the elf, a pleading smile on his face. “Please, just do what you’ve wanted to do since we met. Pretend we’re still those people.”

Fenris sighed as he moved forward to close the distance between them. He pulled a flask from his pack and handed it to Anders as he sat down next to him. “We may never have been close, but you know well enough I’d rather not be that person again.”

Anders uncorked the flask and took a drink. “Love does that.”

The nod was almost imperceptible, so much so, Anders wasn’t sure if Fenris was even aware he’d expressed his agreement.

“She needs this, Fenris. She needs to be rid of me.”

“You’re asking me to take away someone else she loves.” He stared straight ahead, hoping the words would sting far less if he kept his eyes forward. “You’re asking me to make her suffer more than she already has.”

Anders handed the flask back to his companion. “She hasn’t stopped suffering. You know how Manon is. She hasn’t stopped thinking about all the things she could have done to keep Kirkwall safe, to keep me safe, to keep everyone safe. Everything’s become too big for her to ignore, but she just… She can’t do this alone, not anymore.” He whispered the rest quietly, more to himself than his company, “And she is far more alone with me by her side now than she ever was before.”

The pair sat in silence for a time, listening to the wind as it roamed through the canyon. Had they not been what they were, in another life they might have been friends, rivals still, but friends. Anders sifted through a pocket and pulled out a piece of faded red fabric, Manon’s family crest partially worn away in the center. It had lost her smell ages ago, but he brought it up to his nose all the same and closed his eyes, remembering every bit of her and how she had shined so brightly in Kirkwall.

Fenris took the chance to stand, allowing Anders his memories. The man had always been sentimental, and Fenris could guess what he would ask him to do. Take the token back to Manon, take his stave as well. Burn his body so there would be nothing left to tie her down. He would suggest a story to tell her and point out how good of a liar Fenris had been in Kirkwall, that he should have no trouble with it. Fenris clenched his fists, the armor digging into his palms.

“If it helps, consider it a mercy. Or a favor - one I won’t be able to repay.” Anders struggled to his feet, using his stave for support. And then, he waited.

Fenris slowly removed his gauntlets, letting them fall at his feet. Anders called it a mercy. He couldn’t decide if the man was being selfish or self-sacrificing. That line had always been there, but this was the first time Fenris had ever considered Anders to be more of the latter. He wondered if it had always been that way, if his judgement had been just as clouded as everyone else’s and only Manon had known better. If she had known at all.

He finally turned to face Anders, a shadow of the man he had been, but no less determined. “She would not want this.”

“What we want and what we need can be very different things.”

“Do you want this?”

“I want her to live her life without having to worry about surviving it. I want her to smile again, and to actually mean it. I want her to go home and do good for people. I want her to stop running.” Anders’s expression softened. “We both know she can’t do those things with me here.”

Fenris stepped toward Anders, reaching a hand out to part the man’s robes and reveal the bare flesh of his chest. “I take no enjoyment in this.”

“Because it’s me?”

“Because it’s you.”

Anders allowed himself a broken chuckle. “Then care for her, far better than I ever could.”

The two of them lit up with lyrium and spirit energy as Fenris plunged his bare hand into his companion’s chest. He took care to clasp his heart in its cavity and overrun it with the raw power of the lyrium in his veins. It was as close to a mercy as he could manage - keeping the mage whole while he died as he left the spirit screaming.


End file.
